This Spicy Garlic Eggplant (鱼香茄子, Yú xiāng qié zi) is packed with flavors of spicy chili, ginger, and a mixture of delicious sauces. What an appetizing dish to add to your lunch and dinner plans!

My spicy garlic eggplant dish is inspired by the famous Sichuan dish ‘鱼香茄子, Yú xiāng qié zi’. Yu Xiang translates to Fish fragrant and the name always tricks me into thinking there is fish in there.
In actuality, restaurants often make it without seafood or meat in the States. However, I still check with the restaurant to make sure there is no meat or seafood in the dish before I place my order.
Eggplant is one of those vegetables that I was not fond of until I became an adult and now I can’t live without it. Eggplant tastes great in curry, stir fry, or as a side dish by itself.
This Spicy Garlic Eggplant is so flavorful and easy to make and because my family loves it so much, I make it whenever I get some great Japanese eggplants.

Spicy Garlic Eggplant Key ingredients
Ginger – is one of my favorite ingredients to use in a lot of dishes. Minced ginger works the best and gives a slight heat with lots of flavor in this simple recipe.
Garlic – lends a bit of sweetness and umami punch to this dish which makes it a nice blend with ginger and the sauce. Skip this ingredient if you can’t have garlic.
Chili – I used softened dried chili peppers to which I had their seeds removed then chopped into smaller bits. Fresh chilies or chili flakes are other great alternatives.
ChenKiang Vinegar – just a tad bit of vinegar is all you need to make this as flavorful as it is. I love ChenKiang vinegar as it has a stronger taste and it gives the dish a darker color. Other options include rice vinegar but the final color would be lighter.

Cooking wine or Michiu – is optional but its saltiness and sweetness did give this dish a nice finishing touch.

How to make Spicy Garlic Eggplant
Step 1: Prepare the eggplant. I chose the frying method this time. Quick note: when deep-frying the eggplant, don’t use extremely high heat. The temperature should be around 375°F (190°C).
I normally use a chopstick to test the oil. Stick a chopstick into the heated oil and as soon as you see bubbles around the chopstick, then, it’s ready for you to fry the eggplant. Fry the eggplant for a minute, then remove and drain on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.

Step 2: Heat a non-stick pan and mash tofu into tiny bits, then add a drizzle of oil and cook tofu until golden brown. Add the chili, ginger, garlic, and continue to cook until aromatic. Add in the prepared eggplant and sauce, then quickly stir to combine.
Step 3: This step is to cook the eggplant until it turns fork tender. I mix the cornstarch in water and add it to the mixture.
Let this cook until the sauce starts to thicken and the eggplant is fully cooked through. I used low-medium heat to simmer the eggplant until the flesh is soft.
How to retain the eggplant’s color
Pick your eggplant
I love to use Japanese eggplant but also understand that it’s not always easy to keep the purple eggplant color. This step goes all the way back to how to choose the eggplant.
- Look for eggplants that have a darker purple hue with a white top and no brown bruises. Normally, young and tender eggplant fit this category the most.
- Eggplant should be firm with shiny and smooth skin.
- When you cut open a young eggplant, the flesh is white with little to no black seeds.
How to keep the color during cooking
There are many ways to keep the eggplant purple during cooking and here are some ways that worked for me but for the best, first, you need to pick the right eggplant with the steps above.
Vinegar – Soak sliced eggplant in a bowl of water with vinegar for about 2 to 3 minutes. For each cup of water, use about 3 teaspoons of vinegar. Then drain and continue with how you would like to prepare it.
There are a few ways to cook the eggplant: fry, steam, and bake. The frying method is the best method to keep the color. I also find that high-heat deep fry will cause the eggplant to turn brown faster, so use medium-heat.
To steam: My mom likes this method the most. Place cut eggplant on a steamer rack and steam over high heat for about 8 – 10 minutes. Remove and air dry to cool.
To bake: Rub cut eggplant with oil then bake at 400°F (204°C) for about 20 to 25 minutes.

What if I don’t want to pre-cook the eggplant
I tried this method in the past and it only worked with the young and tender ones with dark purple skin. Here is what I did:
- prepare the eggplant in the last step (right before you need to cook it)
- use more cooking oil
- add the eggplant, skin down first so that part touches the oil
- a quick toss to evenly coat the eggplant, then continue to add the rest of the ingredients
- add water with cornstarch and let it simmer (I used more water for this method as the eggplant wasn’t pre-cooked)
These are some of the methods I have tried and I hope they will help you in making your eggplant dishes.
This Spicy Garlic Eggplant is
- Flavorful
- Quick to make and a great pair with Steamed Bun or rice
- Easily customizable; use gluten-free sauces for a gluten-free option
- Vegan
- Tasty!!

If you try this recipe, I would love to hear your feedback and see your beautiful re-creation. Leave me a comment, rate it, and tag @woon.heng and #woonheng to your photos on Instagram or Facebook. Happy cooking, friends!

Spicy Garlic Eggplant (鱼香茄子)
Ingredients
- 1 lb [450g] Japanese eggplant
- 2 oz [65g] firm tofu pressed and mashed
- 6 dried chilis boiled until soft
- 1 tablespoon finely minced ginger
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- a handful of chopped green onions
- oil for cooking
- salt to taste
- ¾ cup water with 1 teaspoon cornstarch whisk to combine
Sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon Chenkiang vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cooking wine, Michiu or sub with vegetable broth
Instructions
- Place dried chilis in a small pot with 1 cup of water (enough to cover all the chilis) and bring it to a rolling boil. Then, cook until chili turns soft. Drain and chop chilis into tiny bits which should yield about 1 tablespoon.
- Cut eggplant into 2" chunks, then heat a small tall pot with about 1 cup of oil to about 375°F (190°C).
- Fry eggplant for 1 minute, remove and drain them on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat with a drizzle of oil and add in the mashed tofu. Pan-fry tofu until golden brown, then push to the side of the pan.
- Add another swirl of oil in the pan, and sauté chili, ginger, and garlic until aromatic, about 1 minute.
- Place in the partially cooked eggplant and season with soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, michiu, and give it a quick toss to combine.
- Gradually add in the water with cornstarch then stir to mix all the ingredients together.
- Let the mixture simmer until the sauce is thickened and eggplant is fork-tender. Season with more salt or soy sauce if needed.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and serve warm with a bowl of your favorite cooked grain.
Video
Notes
- If using round eggplant, increase the water required and cooking time
Feel free to pin the below picture on your Pinterest Board for easy reference.

This recipe is AMAZING! I took some to my elderly mother and she loved it as well. A definite new staple to be added to my family dishes.
This was fantastic! I soaked the eggplant in the water/vinegar first and steamed and it turned out perfectly (and nice beautiful purple!) This is a keeper!
That’s so awesome, Melissa. I’m really happy this works for you. I love the first soak method too. Hope you get to try other recipes soon. Best, WoonHeng
🍆Eggplant🍆
Prep everything ahead of time. I added extra fried tofu chunks and it made a hearty meal.
I also tried the char sui tofu recipe and it was really simple to make.
Thank you Woon Heng!
yay! thanks so much Elie for your feedback. Really appreciate you loving the char siu tofu too. 🙂 Thanks so much! Best, WoonHeng
Hi, What kind of dried chilis are these, please? Could we use fresh bird chilis?
Thanks,
Camille
Hello Camille, yes of course, fresh chili works perfect. Thanks!
So delicious! Will definitely become a regular feature
yay, thanks so much Georgina. So glad this dish is your regular dish now. 🙂 Makes my day. best, WoonHeng
Wow!
This was really yummy, just like at our favorite chinese restaurant. Thank you so much for the recipe 🙂
The tofu came out really chewy like the minced meat that is usually sprinkled on top of the eggplants.
I didn’t fry the eggplant though. I put the pieces in a pan with a lid and simmered them with a little water until they were soft. Made them a little less fatty, I think. Not that something would be wrong with that, just wanted to try it out and it worked very well! The eggplants were already soft then (easy to see thanks to the change in color).
I used “normal” eggplants as well.
That’s AWESOME! really love this way of cooking my tofu too. Thank you so much for your feedback and your tip. I am sure many readers will enjoy this tip. 🙂 Really appreciate it. Have a beautiful day. Best, WoonHeng
one more question would it be ok to skip the Tofu if I don’t have any? or is it necessary to the taste of the recipe? Thx Penny
Hey Penny, yes you can, I added that for the texture. 🙂 Let me know if you need anything else. Happy cooking.
This is my new favourite recipe❤️ I tried this on last Sunday, and it was AMAZING! Definitely gonna make it again. I could easily finish two bowls of rice just with this and zha cai 😋
This looks amazing! Somryhy like I had in a Chinese Restaurant I don’t have those vinegar and cooking wine can I use Chinese cooking wine instead ? And some other vinegar what would you suggest? The ones you listed are def not around here, don’t have access to a store that would carry them, would rice vinegar work what would you suggest as close substitutions? Also do we have to soak the chili? Would it make any difference to use dry chilis? Thx looks beautiful can’t wait to try it.
Hello Penny, thanks so much for your interest. Rice vinegar would work well. I boiled those dried chilies so I could chop them up. If you can’t find these chilies, you can try to sub with chili flakes. Let me know if you have any other questions at all. Thanks so much! Happy cooking! Best, WoonHeng
One more note to your question, yes, you can sub with Chinese cooking wine. please note some cooking wine is saltier, so you may need to adjust the saltiness accordingly. Thanks! 🙂
Thank you very much I can’t wait to try it!
of course, Penny! 🙂
I made this a few nights ago! It was amazing.. I had to replace the Chenkiang Vinegar with Japanese Plum vinegar (as I didn’t have any) and it still turned out great ! Delicious and easy meal to make !
Thank YOU, Helen! I am so happy you loved it, the sub sounds amazingly yum! Delicious.
This turned out great! I had to look up a substitution for the Chenkiang vinegar, as I couldn’t find it in any stores, but it worked with part rice vinegar and part soy sauce. Thanks for the delicious recipe with the perfect amount of spice!
Yay, thanks so much Chelsea. so glad you liked it and found a sub. Thanks so much. Have a wonderful day. Best, WoonHeng
Hi! Is there a specific type of dried chili pepper that you like to use?
Hello Sarah, I used regular dried red chili peppers, but the Thai one will work just great. Hope that helps. Happy cooking!
I’ve made this twice this week and it was amazing both times. Thank you!!
woohoo Kate, thanks so much! twice already, yay. So glad you loved it, thanks so much for the support. Best, WH
Loved this recipe. Definitely will become a go to meal from now on.
Hello Christopher, thanks so much! I am super happy to hear this. It’s one of my favorites too. 🙂
So good! I didn’t have time to run to the Japanese store but still wanted to try this so I used regular (short and fat) eggplant and silken tofu instead of firm tofu. Still came out tasting amazing. This is my new go-to eggplant dish.
Yay, greatly appreciate your feedback Elizabeth! I am so happy to hear it came out amazing for you. This is really our favorite meal, and glad it will be your go-to too. Best, WoonHeng
Can I fry the eggplant? (rather than deepfry?) or use an airfryer? if so how hot and for how long?
Hello Shannon, thanks for your interest, here you go: To steam, place cut eggplant on a steamer rack and steam over high heat for about 8 – 10 minutes. Remove and air dry to cool. To bake, rub cut eggplant with oil then bake at 400°F (204°C) for about 20 to 25 minutes. Hope that helps, and please check out the how-to prep the eggplant before these two steps. Let me know if you have any questions at all.
Looks amazing… can’t weight to make it !!❤️❤️❤️
Thanks so so much Mimi!!
Sooo yummy! I added oyster mushrooms too because they were going bad in my fridge and turned out amazing!